Justice Editor for The Age

A former drug squad detective is suing the state of Victoria over alleged mistreatment when he was locked up in Barwon Prison awaiting trial over the murder of a police informer and his wife.

Paul Dale claims his human rights were breached when he was forced to wear bright red prison clothing, held in isolation and then put in a unit with three ''Lebanese-speaking'' men convicted of terrorism offences. His solicitor, John Suta, would not specify a figure but said his client would seek substantial damages.

''No matter how serious the charges, you're innocent until proven guilty, and should be treated as such,'' Mr Suta said.

Mr Dale spent seven months on remand in the high-security prison in 2009 after being charged over the murders of Terence Hodson and his wife, Christine. The charges were dropped after drug kingpin Carl Williams - who allegedly told police that Mr Dale had asked him to arrange the hit - was murdered in Barwon Prison.

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It was alleged that Mr Dale arranged the Hodsons' murder because Terence was set to give evidence against him in a drugs case. Mr Dale had been accused of attempting to steal $1.3 million worth of drugs, but those charges were dropped after Hodson's death.

Last week, Mr Dale was found not guilty of lying to the Australian Crime Commission over his links to Williams.

The statement of claim, signed by high-profile barrister Julian Burnside, QC, and lodged on Tuesday afternoon, says the state exposed Mr Dale to a ''materially increased risk of psychiatric injury'' through the conditions in which he was held.

The statement claims Mr Dale now suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and ''adjustment disorder'' as a result of his ''cruel, inhuman and degrading'' treatment.

It says that when Mr Dale was held in the ''loss of privileges'' unit he was completely isolated from other prisoners, housed in a cell with no natural light, permitted ''unreasonably few'' visitors and phone calls and was not given adequate exercise equipment.

When he was moved to another unit, Mr Dale claims he was unfairly housed with three people convicted of terror offences.

''The three other prisoners spoke to each other in Lebanese, and when they rarely spoke English they spoke mostly about issues relating to their shared religious and cultural beliefs, and thus afforded no company for [Mr Dale],'' the statement says.

''[Mr Dale] was unable to engage in much interaction with the three other prisoners because of the significant cultural differences between him and them.''

The statement says that whenever Mr Dale left the unit or received a visitor, he was handcuffed and the handcuffs were then attached to a belt. He was also told to avoid eye contact with other prisoners and to look at the ground.

It also says Mr Dale was unreasonably forced to wear bright red prison-issue clothes, subjected to unreasonable strip searches and had his legs shackled whenever he left the prison.